ALS, one page, 8.25 x 10.75, July 17, 1843. Letter to his English publisher Edward Buxton, about 'Die erste Walpurgisnacht,' vocal quartets, a sonata, and the violinist Ferdinand David. In part: "I shall remain here during the whole of this summer, & therefore expect the pleasure of seeing you at the end of next month, when we may talk over everything about the 'erste Walpurgisnacht.' The day of publication of the Songs shall not be fixed until I have heard from you, and I have not the least objection to call them Vocal Quartets…Only about the arrangement of the Sonata I am sorry not to be able to meet your wishes, being prevented by several reasons; I think it impossible to arrange any Composition of this kind in a satisfactory way for the Violin, at least I for myself would not be able to do it and please myself. Therefore if people object, as you say they do, to David's arrangement of my first Sonata, I am sure they are right in as far as the effect is not the same as with Violoncello, nor even half as good—but they are wrong if they think it is David's fault, because I am sure it cannot be done in a better way…I have heard from Mr. Kistner that David has undertaken already to arrange also the 2nd Sonata, and accordingly I would not interfere." In very good to fine condition, with scattered light stains, and two areas of seal-related paper loss at the edges.
Ferdinand David was an eminent violinist who gave the first performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. A close friend of the composer, David went to Leipzig in 1836 to be the leader of the Gewandhaus orchestra under Mendelssohn, a post he held for the rest of his life. The recipient of this letter, Edward Buxton, was the editor of the music publisher Ewer and Co., who published most of the contemporary English editions of Mendelssohn's works, several of which appeared in England before any other country. An important letter touching upon the publishing and editing of Mendessohn's distinguished corpus.
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